Five Lifetimes of Love
by ShadowIdol
Summary: "I wish I could have had five different lives instead of one. And instead of one town, I could have been born to a family in five different ones, and each one would have fed me a lifetime of different foods. And I would have grown up to have five different careers. And in every one of those lives...I would have fallen in love with the same person, five different times."
1. Prologue

**So I know this has been done to death, but I've been re-watching Bleach, and I just got to the part where Orhime said goodbye to Ichigo, and I just had to write this.**

 **This prologue is just the Five Lifetimes, One Love scene from the anime, so if you don't want to read it, then it's fine to just skip it.**

"Normal" = **Talking**

 _"Italics"_ = **Thinking**

 **"Bold"** = **Emphasis on word**

 _ **"Bold and italics"**_ = **The famous Five Lifetimes, One Love speech. Yes I felt it necessary to emphasize this part, especially since this whole story centers around it.**

 **Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo, Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, and TV Tokyo. Please support the official release. This disclaimer also belongs not to me, but to the youtube channel that does the Bleach abridged series, BlazingAzureCrow.**

* * *

 _ **Karakura Town - Ichigo's Room**_

"Okay, there we go." Orihime said as she stepped through the wall into Ichigo's room.

She put her hand behind her head and chuckled out nervously.

"That's hard to get used to, but here I am."

Staring at Ichigo for a few seconds, the smile drops from Orihime's face.

"I decided to say goodbye to you Ichigo. There are actually a lot of other people I want to say goodbye to as well. Like Tatsuki, Chad, Uryu, Rukia, and a bunch of others, but I'd get in trouble if I did, so I had to choose."

Staring at Ichigo for a bit longer, Orihime was startled out of it by a sound. Looking over Ichigo's bed, she saw his sisters, as well as their plates. Realizing what happened, the smile returned to her face.

"Oh, I get it now. I guess Yuzu and Karin wanted to be close to you tonight. You haven't been around much, so they must have really missed you a lot. That's so cute! They brought their plates in so they could have dinner next to your bed!' This train of thought brought Orihime to a realization.

"Wait, I just realized. Your bedroom." She started looking around said bedroom, blushing. "This is the first time I've ever been in your bedroom by myself, since I've known you...it has your scent."

Once again staring down at Ichigo's face, Orihime hesitated reaching down for his injured hand. Grasping it, Orihime slowly brought her face down, aiming her lips towards Ichigo's. Memories of him flashed through her mind as she did so. The time he saved her from Sora's hollow. The little moments with him and Tatsuki and everyone else. Seeing him injured after his fight with Byakuya. Saving her from Yammy. Apologizing to her with Rukia's help. Seeing his conviction while training with Shinji and them.

Remembering all these moments with him, she felt tears falling down her face and onto Ichigo's. Not being able to stop them, she tried masking the pain with a smile.

"Just look at me. The truth is I can't bring myself to do it." Sniffing, she wiped away the tears. "I'm so ashamed of myself. It's my last moment with you and I'm trying..." Standing up, she leaned back against his window, once again looking towards Ichigo.

 _ **"When I think about it, Ichigo, there were so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to become a school teacher. I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be a baker. I wanted to go to a bunch of doughnut shops and ask for one of everything. I even wanted to stop the ice cream man and his truck and tell him to give me one of everything he had as well. *sigh* I wish I could have had five different lives instead of one. And instead of one town, I could have been born to a family in five different ones, and each one would have fed me a lifetime of different foods. And I would have grown up to have five different careers. And in every one of those lives...I would have fallen in love with the same person, five different times."**_

Calling upon her Shun Shun Rikka, she used her Soten Kisshun to heal his injured arm. Looking at him for what she believed would be the last time, she turned away.

"Thank you Ichigo...goodbye."

* * *

 **Word count: 570**

 **Well that was fun. Before anyone complains, yes it was the speech from the english dub, and no I don't think it was done any worse than the japanese version.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**

 **I'll try to upload the chapters as quickly as possible, but as a college student, please know that I might not always have the time to work on this.**


	2. Chapter 1: School Teacher

**Alright, sorry about taking so long guys. I meant to have this finished a lot earlier, but college is taking up nearly all of my time. Had assignments to do, and midterms to study for.**

 **But I did it, here's the first chapter. Thanks for all the support! It means a lot. I think it'll be pretty obvious where I'm taking this story after reading this chapter. I'm doing all five lifetimes with a certain theme to each of them. Something to note before you start reading, is that this chapter is set in Edo Japan, so I decided to try and write it with that in mind. So I'll be using the honorifics and everything that wouldn't have applied to the english dub.**

"Normal" **= Talking**

 _"Italics"_ **= Thinking**

 **"Bold" = Emphasis on word**

*Action* **= Action made during dialogue**

 **Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

 _ **Edo Period Japan - A household in the Yamanote area**_

Inoue Orihime was having trouble sleeping. She had just recently been assigned a post at the newly established Shin'ō Academy. It was an academy that taught Samurai, both those who are born into a samurai family, and those who had the talent to become one, teaching them all the things needed for being both an aristocrat and a warrior. She had taken up the position as one of the teachers there, having the job of teaching the students how to read and write.

Having been born to a samurai family, Orihime could be considered a noblewoman, and was taught to read and write. Always having been a compassionate person, Orihime hated the way that the lower class people never got the opportunity to learn, so she had always wanted to become a teacher. And now that dream was finally coming true. For every bit of excitement she had for her dream coming true, there was an equal level of nervousness. Not helping with that nervousness was the fact that she was a woman. In the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate, woman weren't nearly as respected as the men were. In fact, it was a miracle that she was even taught to read and write, with the low percentage of woman that are actually taught to.

But Orihime wouldn't lose hope. Working with the famous Unohana-san gave took away a lot of the fear she had had. Unohana Retsu was famous for many things. She was one of the very few woman in Edo Japan that was respected, and respected she was. All of the men respected her for her medical abilities, being one of the best doctors in the country, and they feared her due to the rumors surrounding her about how she used to be a murderous ronin that wandered the land looking for someone that could best her in combat. Adding credibility to those rumors was the fact that she was one of the very few people that was even respected by the greatly feared Zaraki-san. She was also respected by the female populace, who were in awe of her beauty and grace, and the respect she garnered from the men had made her an icon to women all across the country, Orihime being one of them.

 _"I really hope that I'll be able to get along with all the students. What if they don't like me? What if they're disgusted by me? What if they start throwing things at me? Oh, but if they started throwing rice balls at me I guess that wouldn't be too bad. But rice balls don't seem like something you would throw, maybe udon then. Oh, that gives me an idea! I should try making rice balls using udon. I could call them udon balls. Maybe I'll try bringing some for the students, and then they might like me..."_

And with this thought, Orihime drifted off deep into sleep.

 ** _A day later..._**

"...ri...ma!"

Orihime groaned.

"Ori...sa..."

She just wanted to get a bit more sleep. Was that too much to ask?

"You're going to be late, Orihime-Sama!"

That got Orihime up. Looking around, she saw her personal handmaiden, Arisawa Tatsuki.

"Tatsuki, I've already told you so many times now to drop the honorifics. You're my best friend."

"Yes, but if I did, I'd get yelled at by Sora-Sama, or by your parents. But that's off topic, you're going to be late."

Orihime blinked. Then she blinked again. And then she shot straight up.

"Oh no, Tatsuki, you have to help me get ready!" Tatsuki sighed.

"Well, that is what I'm here for."

 _ **Shin'ō Academy - Class #1**_

Kurosaki Ichigo sat in one of the back seats in the classroom, beside his friend, Abarai Renji. His other friend, Rukia, did not manage to make it into the advanced class with him and Renji. As for his best friend, Yasutora Sado, or as Ichigo liked to call him, Chad, had regretfully decided not to become a samurai. The four of them had grown up together, in one of the Shitamachi areas of Edo, known by the locals as Inuzuri. It was completely lawless there. The four of them, along with some others, were forced to fight for survival every single day. No one was willing to help a few abandoned kids when they had to take care of themselves. They all hated it there, along with everyone that lived there. He was glad to be able to take this chance and become a samurai. Once he became one, he would protect everyone, that's what he swore to himself when he lost all the others.

He was broken out of his thoughts by a loud noise. He turned towards the door to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long beautiful orange hair, with a pretty round face, and he blushed when he saw her body. She definitely had...curves, in all the right places.

 _" I don't think I've ever met anyone else who has orange hair. It's definitely not a normal hair colour to have. Even in the Inuzuri district, I was picked on even more than the others for it. They picked on Chad just as much too though, I guess they thought they might feel tough if they could pick on someone as big as Chad, the cowards. I wish Chad was here, but he said he didn't want to become a samurai. Something about how if he became one, he would have to start throwing his punches for other people that aren't me."_ And once again, Ichigo was broken out of his thoughts, this time, by Renji.

"Wow, she's a real babe isn't she Ichigo?"

Turning back to look at the woman, Ichigo couldn't help but agree. Looking closer, he saw a bruise on her forehead. Did she make that loud noise, running into the door? He wondered what she was doing here.

Walking up to the front of the class, Orihime gave out a nervous laugh.

"Hello everyone. My name is Inoue Orihime. You can call me Inoue-Sensei. I'm here to teach you all how to read and write."

Whispers broke out around the classroom, with everyone murmuring about how they had a female teacher. Not letting this phase her, she continued.

"Alright everyone, first, let's take attendance."

Ichigo wasn't paying attention as the teacher called attendance. He couldn't take his eyes off of this woman. She was like no one he had ever seen before. She was much more beautiful, and she gave off such a pleasant aura. At least in his experience, no one else seemed so..kind.

"Kurosaki-san?"

Hearing his name broke Ichigo out of his trance.

"Is there a Kurosaki-san in the room?"

"I'm here."

Turning to face Ichigo, Orihime was shocked at how handsome he was.

 _"_ _Oh! I shouldn't be thinking about one of my students like that. Shame on me."_

Orihime slapped her cheeks, causing all the students to give her a strange look.

"Well, that's good then. Wouldn't do to skip on your first day huh? Hahaha." Seeing the looks, which had just grown in intensity, Orihime decided it was a good time to start the lesson. "Okay everyone, open your books to the first page."

As the lesson progressed, Orihime taught the students some of the basics of writing in kanji. She then instructed the students to try practicing the stroke order, just as she had demonstrated.

Looking around, she saw many of the students having no trouble. It was obvious to her that some of them had already been taught, probably having been born into noble households. Others, she saw, had had trouble initially, but adapted easily. Some, however, were clearly having trouble with it. She noticed the handsome young man she saw earlier being one of them.

 _"He has such a scary scowl on his face. I wonder if it's always like that. But there's just something about him. I wonder what he looks like when he smiles. Oh, I should probably go help him out. I am his teacher after all."_

Nodding to herself, and then realizing how strange it must have looked, Orihime looked around to see if anyone was staring at her again. Only seeing a few indignant stares from who she had earlier perceived as nobles, she ignored them and walked up to the orange haired man.

"Hello! You're Kurosaki-san correct?"

Ichigo looked up from his work, which he was most certainly not struggling with mind you, and saw his teacher.

"Um...yeah, that's me. What is it Sensei?"

"Well I just noticed that you seemed to be struggling. Would you like any help?"

He could hear Renji snickering beside him, but he ignored it. He couldn't help but want to get to know this woman.

"Um...yeah, I don't really get any of this. I mean, you said that the word for 'family' is supposed to be a pig inside a house? I'm sorry, but what the hell does that even mean?"

Noticing the shocked look on his teacher's face, Ichigo was afraid he had offended her. But then she let out a giggle. At first, he just noticed how beautiful it sounded, but then he realized she was laughing at him.

"Hey, what's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, but it's just that it's not often I see someone be so crass. It's always so stuffy wherever I go. In fact the only one that I've ever heard talk like that is my handmaiden, Tatsuki. Well, I say handmaiden, but she's really more my best friend than anything else. I actually think it's a really refreshing change of pace."

Ichigo heard the name, but he wasn't sure he heard correctly.

"Wait...crass...Tatsuki? Did you say Tatsuki? Would you be talking about Arisawa by any chance?"

"*blink blink* Yes I am. Do you know her?"

"Do I? It's been a long time, but yeah, she's one of my oldest friends. We were both orphans, living on the streets. She was just about the toughest person I've ever met, never let being a woman stop her. If anyone talked back to her, she'd just beat the crap out of them. I still remember what that felt like too. One day, she just up and told us she was going to do something with her life, saying she wanted to be much more than a street rat. Never saw her since."

"Oh, so you grew up with Tatsuki then? You do kind of have the same air about you. You both look like the type that belong in the Bakuto or something, but I can tell you're both really kind. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever heard anything about her past. Me and my brother just found her one day, looking for a job. I liked the way I felt about her and decided to hire her. She's been my best friend ever since."

"Haha, well who would have ever thought that the same Tatsuki would ever become something as dainty as a handmaiden. You know, I always thought that nobles were all just a bunch of stuck up snobs. But if you could gain the trust of Tatsuki of all people, then I know you must be a pretty amazing person Sensei."

"Aw, you're making me blush. Oh, we should probably get back to the lesson. Now you were asking about the character for 'family' right?"

Ichigo quickly discovered that Inoue-Sensei was an excellent teacher. He was often admonished for his impatience, and as such, he could never learn well through words. He was always the type that learned better through action. But when Inoue-Sensei explained things, it was so easy to be drawn in, and it was easy to understand what she was saying. Looking over at Renji, Ichigo knew that he was thinking the same thing.

"Alright class, that's all for today's lesson. You should probably all head on over to your next class now. I'll see you all back here tomorrow, have a nice day!"

But listening to the conversations around him, Ichigo knew that the rest of these sexist bastards weren't even trying to learn anything from her, and it was seriously starting to piss him off.

"Don't mind them. The bigoted types are too stubborn to change their views at all. It would be better to just ignore them. Look, Inoue-Sensei is."

Ichigo turned to the direction that the voice came from, but he didn't see anyone. Was it just his imagination.

"I'm down here."

Looking down, Ichigo saw a white haired kid with turqoise eyes. He had an indifferent look on his face.

"Hey kid, are you lost? You shouldn't be here."

The vein on the kid's head throbbed.

"I'm not a kid. I was accepted into the academy for my ability, and you would do well to remember that."

"So they accept children now? And what is up with your hair. It's an even weirder colour than mine, and don't even get me started on your eyes."

"I already told you I am not a child. And who are you to talk about strange hair colours. Yours makes you look like an orange."

"You're pretty rude for a kid you know that?"

"*sigh* I've had enough of this. It's like talking to a wall."

The white haired kid got up and left, leaving Ichigo alone with Renji.

"Wow, losing an argument to a kid. That's pretty bad even for you."

"Shut it Renji. You probably would have done even worse."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, we have to go to our next class. I think it's a taijutsu class."

And with that, Ichigo and Renji headed off to their next class. That left Orihime as the only one left in the classroom.

Orihime sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well that went well I suppose." Thinking back on how the class went, Orihime decided she liked being a teacher. Some of the students weren't happy with her of course, but while that hurt her, there were a lot more open minded students than she had thought she would have, and that made her happy. One student in particular stood out to her.

 _"Kurosaki-san huh? What an interesting person. I hope I get the chance to get to know him better."_

* * *

 **Word count: 2395**

 **So there it is. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, what I was going for was a Soul Society arc feel to it. I plan on basing each chapter off of a major arc in Bleach, and basing it off the different languages and cultures that are present in them. And as for how the FLOL speech fits in, I decided to use her line with what she wanted to do with those lives as prompts. I plan on fitting in every single thing she said in that speech. That is after all, what this story is about.**

 **To be honest, I actually had a lot more planned out for this chapter. Ichigo was going to get his ass kicked by Yoruichi, and Byakuya too. I was gonna have a mini arc thing with Byakuya discovering Rukia, and I was even planning on having something with Ichigo meeting Isshin and finding out he was his father that had abandoned him. I was even planning on fitting in every soul reaper character possible. Hell, I had already written a scene with Yoruichi. But then I realized that all of that was filler, and didn't really fit in this story. I might do all of that as it's own story though, because I really like the idea of it.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**


	3. Chapter 2: Astronaut

**Oh god it's been a while huh guys? Really sorry for taking so long, but I've just been so busy with assignments and studying for finals. College life doesn't leave a lot of free time. And I admit I even forgot about this story for a while, but here it is, chapter 2, out and ready to be read.**

 **This one is gonna be based on the spanish theme of Hueco Mundo. I was originally going to have it take place right after the colonization of the Aztec Empire, since that fit so well with Aizen taking over Hueco Mundo, but I quickly realized I had no way of fitting in the astronaut theme there. But then, since I had just finished reading Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep, great novel by the way, I came up with the idea of putting the story in the distant future, where I could still use Aizen taking over Hueco Mundo, in the form of colonization of other planets.**

"Normal" **= Talking**

 _"Italics"_ **= Thinking**

 **"Bold" = Emphasis on word**

*Action* **= Action made during dialogue**

 **Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

 _ **Some time in the distant future - Mars: Hueco Mundo**_

Having just landed on Mars, bounty hunter Ichigo Kurosaki was trying to find his bearings. With him were his best friend, Yasutora Sado, and his bounty hunter rival, Ishida Uryu. Facing the both of them, he said

"Alright guys, tell me if you see anything suspicious."

Uryu adjusted his glasses, as cocky punks like him tended to do, and pointed behind him.

"Well if you'd actually looked, you might see that giant building over there."

Turning to see what he was pointing at, he saw a huge round dome.

"Well geez, you don't have to sound so smug about it."

Chad, being the ever calm one among them, made sense of the situation.

"That has to be where they're keeping Orihime."

Remembering why they came here, Ichigo clenched his fists. "Yeah"

Usually, when Ichigo traveled to other planets, it was because the Gotei 13 had a job for him, but this time, it was personal. That bastard Aizen betrayed the Gotei 13, and sure he never got too close to the guy, often keeping to his own inside the organization, but it still hurt. But that wasn't even the worst part. What really pissed him off was the fact that he kidnapped his fiance, Orihime Inoue. And now, he was going to get her back.

"Alright, let's go guys!"

 _ **Inside Las Noches**_

Inside the giant fortress, Orihime stood, staring out her window. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around.

"Ulquiorra, what is it that you want?"

"I just wanted to come check on you and made sure that you don't have any foolish notions of escape. You know, Lord Aizen wouldn't have had to capture you at all if you hadn't been so foolish as to fly so close to Hueco Mundo. We can't very well have you going back and reporting about Las Noches to the Gotei 13 now can we?"

"I'm an astronaut, it's my job to discover things like this. But you don't have to worry about me escaping."

"Oh? So you've accepted your fate?"

"No, it's just that I know Ichigo will come and rescue me."

"...how foolish. You think he'll be able to get past the Espada?"

"Yes, I do. Ichigo's going to win, of that I have no doubt."

"Very well then, I shall simply have to prove you wrong."

With that, Ulquiorra turned and walked away, leaving Orihime to her thoughts.

 _ **In the deserts of Hueco Mundo**_

Ichigo, Uryu and Chad could be seen resting after what appeared to be a battle. There were bodies littered around the 3 of them, and they were panting as if out of breath.

"How much of these guys does Aizen have working for him? I'm getting sick of this, we need to get to Orihime, let's go guys!" Uryu turned to look at him.

"Don't be an idiot Ichigo. Look at you, you're already tired just from fighting these guys. How do you think you'll beat any of the Espada like that?"

Ichigo could definitely see his point, but he just had to get to Orihime...but Uryu was right, he should rest up first.

After a period of rest, the trio once again set off towards Las Noches, fighting off enemies all along the way. Eventually, they got to the gates of Las Noches. However, waiting for them was a man that could have been likened to a giant.

"You the invaders I've been hearing so much about? You don't seem like much. I'm Yammy Llargo, and I'm Espada number 0. That makes me the strongest one. Now, which of you maggots wants to be first?"

Having already drawn his blade and gotten ready to fight, Ichigo was surprised to see Uryu and Chad step out in front of him. And surprisingly, it was Chad who spoke first.

"We've got this one Ichigo, don't worry about us, you go on ahead."

"Wha- but Chad!"

"Didn't you hear him, he told you to go! Don't you have a fiance to get to?"

Still hesitating for a moment, Ichigo made up his mind and ran off ahead. "Alright guys, just make sure to make it out alive."

Seeing this, Yammy charged at Ichigo, but he was intercepted by an arrow, only just managing to deflect it with his blade. Not letting up, Chad followed through with his own attack, also blocked by Yammy.

"I see how it is, you two are gonna offer yourselves up as sacrifices to let that one go huh?" Uryu pushed up his glasses.

"You're awfully overconfident. I'm willing to bet that I could take you on all by myself big guy. But we don't have time for that, so you can either stay out of our way, or die. Your choice."

Yammy snorted "Don't get cocky runt."

 _ **Inside Orihime's Room**_

Having traveled around the eerily empty fortress, Ichigo eventually managed to find Orihime's room. But outside of it was a man. To an outside observer, he might not seem like much, but Ichigo knew that this man was dangerous. Maybe even more so than anyone else he had come across.

"Ichigo Kurosaki I presume. Your fiance is indeed inside of this room. But you're going to have to defeat me before you can get inside. And trust me when I say, you are not up to the task."

"Oh yeah, well I don't think I can agree with you. Let's just find out shall we?" Despite his bravado, Ichigo could feel his blade shaking in his hands. But even if this man was stronger than him, there was no way he would die here. Not when Orihime was so close.

They crossed blades and the battle started. It appeared evenly matched, but it was obvious to Ichigo that Ulquiorra had the upper hand. Pulling out Getsuga, his blaster, he shot at Ulquiorra. The shot was deflected and Getsuga was knocked out of his hands. Having to rely solely on Zangetsu, Ichigo was losing, and eventually, Ulquiorra managed to force him to his knees.

"Not bad Ichigo Kurosaki. It seems you're not the trash I had originally thought you to be. But it's time to finish this." Just as he said this however, Ulquiorra was shot and found that he had a hole in his chest. He turned around to see that Orihime had come out of the room and picked up Getsuga.

"Hmm...what an unexpected development. I can't say I really feel anything now that I'm dying. I never expected to feel so...empty." And with those last words, Ulquiorra dropped dead.

Being able to see Orihime after all this time had Ichigo paralyzed for a moment. He was still taking in the fact that she was there, right in front of him. Slowly, he picked himself up and started walking towards her. Standing in front of her, he could tell Orihime had similar thoughts. He hugged her, reassuring her that it was really him.

"I'm here Orihime. I came to save you." He could see that she was crying, and he wiped away her tears.

"Yes, I knew you would Ichigo. I had faith that you would." Orihime gave him a blinding smile, and drew closer...closer until their lips met. They held their lips together for what felt like forever, just wanting to be as close to each other as possible. Eventually though, they had to stop for breath.

"Now what do you say we go home huh? Uryu and Chad are probably finished by now, Uryu's probably gonna yell at me for taking too long." Orihime wiped away the last of her tears and nodded.

"Yes, let's go home Ichigo. Together."

* * *

 **Word Count: 1278**

 **God am I so dissatisfied with that. It was so much shorter than I wanted it to be, and it doesn't help that it just felt...off and rushed. The worst part though is how I feel like I kept you guys waiting for so long for something of this low quality. I also wanted to put Nel and Grimmjow in, since they're two of my favourite characters, but Nel just didn't fit, and I felt like Grimmjow would have just been filler.**

 **Well that's that, I guess I'll just have to make up for it with the next chapter. I don't think I'll be able to update as fast as I had originally planned, but I'll try to get it up as fast as possible.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**


	4. Chapter 3: Baker

**Alright here we go, this time it's based upon the American setting of the Fullbrings. I'm proud of myself for being able to finish this in such a short timespan.**

"Normal" **= Talking**

 _"Italics"_ **= Thinking**

 **"Bold" = Emphasis on word**

*Action* **= Action made during dialogue**

 **Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

 _ **21st Century - New York City**_

Orihime took a deep breath, trying to get fully prepared for what she was about to do.

 _"Alright, this is it. It's going to happen. Alright, I'm ready!"_ Slapping her cheeks to make absolute sure she was ready for this, she slowly reached her hand out...and turned over the Closed sign so it said Open.

This was Orihime's first day on the job. She was opening her very own bakery, making and selling baked goods to make everyone happy. She's always dreamt of having her very own bakery, ever since she was a child. Her mother was a baker, and she remembered that when she was younger, she would always be so excited when her mother baked something just for her. Now, she was carrying on the legacy, and trying to make other people just as happy as she was.

She heard the store bell ring and she nervously looked towards the door. She relaxed when she saw the Xcution logo on his hat. It was just an Xcution employee, probably just here to deliver her ingredients. Looking closer at him though...he was quite handsome. Orihime blushed and shook her head.

 _"No, bad thoughts!"_

Turning to face the young man, she saw that he was looking at her weird, making her blush even more. Shaking his head, he began to speak.

"Are you Orihime Inoue?"

"Yep! That's me!"

"Well I guess you've probably already figured it out by now, but I'm from Xcution and I'm here to deliver some ingredients for your bakery. They're in the truck, need me to help you carry these to the back?"

Orihime shook her head. "No, it's fine. You've already done enough just by delivering these to me. I can handle it on my own from here."

With that, Orihime headed outside and picked up a box...or tried to at least. It was a bit heavier than she expected it to be. She managed to lift it up, but stumbled trying to carry it back, almost falling to the ground. Luckily, the young man caught her before she did. Orihime blushed, she seemed to be doing that a lot around this young man.

"You know, you know my name, but I don't seem to have the same luxury."

"Ah, yeah sorry, my bad. My name's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki. I...think I should probably help you out with this."

Orihime gave off a nervous laugh. "Yeah, sorry for giving you so much trouble."

They both managed to put all the boxes of ingredients into the back storage room of the bakery, and Ichigo departed, leaving Orihime to her thoughts.

 _"Ichigo Kurosaki. There's just something about him. I hope I get to see him again."_

Orihime was startled out of her thoughts by the store bell's jingle.

" _Oh no, it's my first customer! Ok, calm down Orihime, you can do this."_

She tried giving the customer her best non-nervous smile. "Hello, and welcome to Inoue's Strange Tastes. How may I help you today?"

 _ **A few months later...**_

Orihime had found that after the first few customers, she was starting to have a blast with her bakery. It became easier to talk with her customers, and everytime one of them left her bakery with a smile, it warmed her heart. Of course, some people came in and left with a face of disgust from looking at her food, and it hurt, but she had gotten used to those through her lifetime. It's not her fault that she has exquisite taste in foods after all.

She heard the store bell ring and turned towards the door. She blushed when she saw the same young man from a few months earlier. She forgot that she had ordered delivery for more ingredients recently, and even then, she didn't think it would be the same man from before. It was embarrassing to admit, but she had actually thought of him a lot since they first met, and she was even secretly hoping that it would be him that showed up, but to have it actually happen was a bit much for Orihime.

"U-um...hi Ichigo, I assume you're here to deliver my ingredients?"

"Yep. They're in the truck again. Don't worry, I'll help out this time too."

And so it was that a pattern developed. Every few months, when Orihime needed ingredients, she had Xcution deliver her ingredients, and it was always Ichigo that showed up. Through their interactions, they got to know each other fairly well. For example, Orihime now knew that Ichigo was an older brother to two younger twin sisters, Karina and Yuzu. She learned about his best friend Chad, who was actually the one that got him his current job. He learned about all his coworkers too. Especially about his boss, Ginjo. He often complained about how much of a slavedriver he was, even if he didn't look the part. Eventually, Orihime mustered up the courage to ask for his phone number.

It was another day that Ichigo showed up in her store to deliver ingredients, and she took the chance to start up a conversation before he had to leave.

"Hi Ichigo! Do you want to take a break for a while and have something? It's on the house!"

That surprised Ichigo a bit. "Um...no I'm good."

Orihime frowned. "Are you sure, it's awfully rude of you to say no to something like that."

"Ah- I...ok fine, yeah I'll take something."

"Yay! Alright, just wait right here."

Orihime sat him down and then went to go get some treats. They talked for a while and eventually...

"Um...hey Ichigo?"

"Yeah?"

"Would it be...could I...have your phone number?"

Ichigo blinked once. Twice. A third time.

"Yeah, of course you can." He wrote it down and passed it to her. "Here."

Ichigo blushed and looked like he was trying to say something else. "Um...would you mind...that is...I mean...would you like to...I don't know, go out on a date sometime?"

Orihime blushed, swearing that she heard wrong. She could feel her heart beating a whole lot faster. Was it supposed to go that fast, was she going to die from this!? She tried to calm down, surely she must have heard that wrong.

"I'm sorry what was that?"

"I uh...would you like to go on a date with me sometime? It's ok if you say no, I'd understand."

"No no! I would love to go on a date with you! Um, I mean, that is, I would very much like to go on a romantic outing with you. Just name the time and place." Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. Orihime couldn't blame him, she was feeling just as nervous, if not even more so.

"Great, so you get off at 6 right? How about I pick you up at 7 then?"

"Sounds good, where are we going?"

Ichigo, finally seeming to have managed to compose himself, gave her a wink. "That's going to be a surprise."

Orihime offered a smile in return. "Looking forward to it then."

And she had so much more to look forward to in the future.

* * *

 **Word Count: 1184**

 **And done. Not sure I liked how it ended, but I think I did pretty good this time around. It felt a lot easier trying to write Orihime here because the setting fits in with her so well. I...don't think I did Ichigo very well at all though. And I felt that it was much too short. Oh well, it could have had more, but I think this is still fairly good. A decent amount in a short time frame, but tell me what you guys think.**

 **And this makes about the halfway point. Next up is the quincies, I'm going to use a really obvious setting for their German army theme.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**


	5. Chapter 4: Doughnut Shops

**Alright, so I have this one set in something similar to WWII, with the Wandenreich being basically Nazi Germany. It's a bit too short for my tastes, but I don't think I did too bad. I mean that long a wait time for something this short probably isn't ideal, so I have to apologize for taking so long with this. I don't have any excuses, I was just slacking off.**

"Normal" **= Talking**

 _"Italics"_ **= Thinking**

 **"Bold" = Emphasis on word**

*Action* **= Action made during dialogue**

 **Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

 ** _Blood War era - Seireitei, Japan_**

Orihime Inoue was walking around with her boyfriend, Ichigo Kurosaki. Or rather, it might have been more accurate to say that she was dragging him around.

"Hey Orihime, slow down a little. Where are we going anyways?"

"We're going to every doughnut shop in the city silly. I'm going to ask for one of everything!"

Ichigo stopped for a second, and tried to register what she just said.

"Wait, what!? You mean you're going to ask for one of everything in every single doughnut store in the entire city!? Where are you even gonna get the money for that!?"

Orihime just smiled at him. That radiant smile of hers managed to calm him down, as it always does.

"Don't worry about it Ichigo, let's just go get ourselves some doughnuts!"

And so it was that Ichigo went with Orihime in her quest to obtain every sort of doughnut from every sort of doughnut shop. Along the way, they came across many of their friends, such as Chad, Renji, Rukia, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, and many others. They even came across Ichigo's boss, Ikumi. But the biggest surprise was probably Uryu. Ichigo was still surprised at the fact that he chose to fight alongside them against his own homeland. But even though he would never admit it to anyone, he was glad he wasn't going to have to go into battle against his dear friend.

Orihime invited them all to join them for some doughnuts, but they all declined, leaving the two lovebirds to their little date.

Orihime managed to buy one of everything from every store in the city, having them all packed in neat little boxes that made it easy to tell what doughnuts they were from which shop. They miraculously managed to bring them all back to Orihime's home.

Orihime started digging through the doughnuts, devouring them like a woman posessed. Ichigo cringed a bit at that. No matter how many times he sees it, he just can't quite get used to Orihime's eating habits. Seeing that Ichigo wasn't eating any, Orihime stopped for a bit and looked at him.

"Aren't you gonna eat any Ichigo?"

Shaking his head, Ichigo replied "No, I'm fine, really. You can have them all."

Nodding her head happily, Orihime went back to devouring the doughnuts. After a while, Ichigo decided to bring up what was on his mind.

"So what's the matter Orihime?" Orihime stopped cold, and laughed nervously.

"What do you mean Ichigo? Nothings the matter, everything is A-OK." Ichigo wasn't buying it though.

"You've been doing so many weird things that you normally wouldn't do Orihime. I mean, even today. I know you love your doughnuts Orihime, but it's weird even for you to go around buying so many. Plus, where did you even get the money for that?" Orihime looked down. It was a while before she spoke up.

"You're probably going to think it's stupid." Ichigo's eyes softened at that.

"Orihime, you know that there's nothing you could ever do to make me think that. Please, just tell me what's wrong."

"...all these weird things I've been doing lately...they're items on...well...my bucket list." Ichigo blinked once. Twice. And a third time.

"Your...bucket list?" Orihime slowly nodded her head.

"I...it's just that...well, with the war coming up, I don't...I don't want to die with any regrets." Ichigo spoke up to assuage her worries.

"Orihime, you're not going to be on the front lines, you're tending to the wounded."

"You didn't let me finish Ichigo. More than that. More than not wanting to die, I don't want you to die!" She looked up at him and he saw that she was crying.

"I just...want to spend as much time with you as I can. I know you're going to fight on the frontlines against Yhwach's Wandenreich, and I know I can't follow you there, and I also know that you could die out there. I just...couldn't handle that." The tears started streaming down her face. "Please, don't die. Don't die Ichigo! You don't have to win, and you don't have to fight for me. Just don't get hurt, I couldn't bear it."

Finally understanding what Orihime was going through, Ichigo wiped away her tears, and hugged her. Letting her cry into his shoulder.

"Don't worry Orihime. I'm not going to die, I promise. I'm going to make it back to you, no matter what."

They just sat there, hugging each other and reassuring each other. Spending time together as two lovers would before they went into battle...

* * *

 **Word Count: 761**

 **Yeah it's short, I originally had something different in mind, something a lot longer, but then I found I liked this idea more. A short piece of something like this is refreshing sometimes I think.**

 **Alright, so next up, for the final lifetime I originally thought about doing something with all of the former enemies that Ichigo had, and showing how all sorts of different people can come together, but then I remembered about my favourite characters. The Vizards. Can't very well leave them out now can I?**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**


	6. Chapter 5: Ice Cream Man

**Alright, final lifetime. Let's do this! This one I have set in the modern era in Canada, since it's a country known for it's multi-multiculturalism and I noticed that the vizards all dress in clothing from various cultures. No, me being Canadian had nothing to do with it...yeah.** **Not proud of having to use the modern era twice in the same story, but I mean hey, Bleach itself is set in the modern era.**

 **Also, not sure if anyone noticed, but Orihime's speech last chapter is the exact same one as the one from when Ichigo fought Grimmjow. It just fit so perfectly there that I couldn't help but put it in.**

"Normal" **= Talking**

 _"Italics"_ **= Thinking**

 **"Bold" = Emphasis on word**

*Action* **= Action made during dialogue**

 **Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

 _ **21st Century Canada - Vancouver**_

Ichigo Kurosaki was cursing his friends for putting him up to this. They made him drive around in this stupid truck in this stupid outfit wearing this...ok well the mask was cool, but it was still stupid. Why did they need to wear masks anyways? His mind flashed back to the warehouse, when Shinji gave them this whole stupid task to begin with.

 _ **A few hours earlier...**_

Shinji was wearing his ever present grin while he handed out boxes to everyone in the group. Knowing Shinji, it was probably something stupid, but even knowing that, Ichigo couldn't abate his curiosity as he opened it. Inside he found clothes and...a mask? Picking it up, he inspected it. Why the hell was Shinji giving him a mask? Ichigo looked at him with a questioning look in his eyes. Shinji, noticing that everyone was looking at him with said questioning look, grinned that stupid grin and started to explain.

"I've decided that we're holding a festival." Seeing that everyone was just looking even more confused, he decided to elaborate. "It's going to be awesome." Still seeing the blank stares, he elaborated further. "It's going to be awesome."

Figuring the blank stares weren't going to get them anywhere, Hiyori smacked him with her sandal. "What we want to know is why we're holding a festival in the first place you idiot!"

"What the hell did you hit me for! I just told you, we're holding a festival because it's going to be awesome!"

Everyone in the warehouse just facepalmed, and collectively spoke up about their feelings on the subject.

"Idiot."

"That's a great idea! This is so exciting! Is that what the masks are for? Oh this is gonna be so fun!"

...except for Mashiro. She seemed to agree with Shinji. Kensei sighed, still thinking the idea was stupid.

"In what way is it going to be awesome? It just sounds like a hassle to me."

Lisa nodded. "I agree with Kensei, it sounds like too much of a pain. But Mashiro brings up a good question. What **are** the masks for anyways?"

"Isn't it obvious? They're stylish and awesome. I had them made by Sosuke." Shinji seemed rather proud of himself for that. Another moment of silence passed before it was broken by Love.

"You really are an idiot you know that?"

Rose seemed to disagree. Oh I don't know, this seems like a good idea to me. Festivals are a form of art all on their own."

Hachi nodded his head to this. "Yes, a festival seems like a great idea! It will be fun."

Hiyori shook her head furiously. "You idiots can't actually be thinking that that idiot's idea is a good one can you? This whole idea sounds so stupid! Don't you think so Ichigo?"

They all looked toward where Ichigo was only to see that he was no longer standing there. Looking around, they saw that he was trying to sneak out of the warehouse. Shinji obviously objected to this.

"Not so fast Ichigo! We're doing this whether you like it or not. I've even already got a job for you. Here, put these on and take the truck."

"Wait, what truck?"

"That ice cream truck outside. I just got it specifically for this. You're going to go around selling ice cream and raising awareness of our festival. It's going to be great!"

 _ **Back to the present...**_

Stupid Shinji and his stupid ideas. Why was he even doing this anyways?

Ichigo was broken out of his thoughts when he saw people crowding around. He sighed. Guess it was time for the first stop of the day. He stopped the truck and people started lining up. He started selling the ice cream and Ichigo handed out a pamphlet to each one. The customers all took their ice cream and pamphlets before happily walking off, though not necessarily unfazed by the mask. The last person though, was taking her time.

"Hm...what should I get?"

She seemed to be at a loss of what to get, but Ichigo was too distracted himself to notice that. This girl was beautiful. Luscious orange locks combined with a perfect figure and...proportions caused her to stand out. Every feature, her bright innocent eyes, her radiant smile, they all stood out to Ichigo.

"I know! I'll just take one of everything!"

That broke Ichigo out of his thoughts.

"B- huh?" The girl just nodded.

"Yep, one of everything!"

Well, not everyday you meet someone that will ask for that. This woman was strange. But that just made her all the more interesting in Ichigo's eyes. Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts, he handed her a pamphlet. The girl took it looking it over before her eyes lit up.

"Ooh, a festival! I love festivals! I was wondering what the mask was for. It looks kinda scary, but that's part of the charm I think."

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do in this situation. He was about to give her the ice cream she asked for when he remembered that she asked for everything.

"Um...so do you want to take a box with you to carry them in?"

The girl thought it over for a bit before shaking her head. "Nope, I'll just eat it all here if you don't mind. Oh, do you have to get going? I guess you don't have to listen to my request, it was kind of a stupid one." Sticking out her tongue, she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"You know what? It's fine, here, I'll just hand them to you as you finish each one." Spending time with this charming woman sounded a lot better than running Shinji's errands for him that was for sure. The girl started licking at her ice cream before seeming to realize something.

"Oh I just realized. I never even gave you my name. Hi, I'm Orihime! It's nice to meet you!"

Once again, Ichigo blushed and rubbed the back of his head. It's a good thing she couldn't see him blushing with this mask on, it would have been even more embarrassing for him than it already was.

"Yeah, nice to meet you Orihime. I'm Ichigo."

The two of them talked for a while. Just passing the time while Orihime ate her ice cream. They talked about mundane things like the weather, or recent news. They even talked about things like what their favourite colours were. But even so, even with the fact that talking to anyone else about things like this would have bored Ichigo to death, he was having the time of his life. It was the strangest feeling, but Ichigo didn't want it to go away.

"Oh, I guess that was everything on the menu huh? Well, I guess I should be going now."

Wait what? Had that much time already passed? Ichigo looked at his watch, seeing that it had already been about an hour.

"You probably want to get back to handing out ice cream. It was really nice to meet you Ichigo! I guess I'll see you at the festival then? I hope you can show me what your face looks like then." And with that, she walked off with a skip in her step.

Seeing her go made Ichigo feel a lot more depressed than he should have. She was like a ray of sunshine. Something he desperately needed in his life, especially with all of the craziness that were his friends. Ichigo sighed.

 _"Well, back to work I guess."_ Remembering her last words though, he smiled, already excited about seeing her again. _"I guess Shinji doesn't always have terrible ideas. Who knows? This whole festival thing might actually be a good idea."_

* * *

 **Word Count: 1301**

 **Alright, I'm pretty proud of this one. I liked it at least. It was short and sweet, but not so short that I was dissatisfied with how short it was. I think I wrote the Vizards pretty well too, although they each only got like one line so I guess that wouldn't be too hard.**

 **But don't go yet guys. I still have an epilogue planned out. I mean probably a really short one that's not really worth anything, but if you want to stick around for it then I have it planned.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**


	7. Epilogue

**Ok yeah, I took way too long for this tiny little thing. No excuses, I was just feeling lazy.**

 **But anyways, here we go. Just a final little piece of thing to satisfy my desire for a closer. It's just a small little thing to compliment the prologue and to tie up the story. Set during the last chapter of the manga. So yeah, we finally get some Kazui in here.**

"Normal" = **Talking**

 _"Italics"_ = **Thinking**

 **"Bold"** = **Emphasis on word**

 _ **"Bold and italics"**_ = **The famous Five Lifetimes, One Love speech. Yes I felt it necessary to emphasize this part, especially since this whole story centers around it.**

 **Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo, Viz Media, Studio Pierrot, and TV Tokyo. Please support the official release. This disclaimer also belongs not to me, but to the youtube channel that does the Bleach abridged series, BlazingAzureCrow.**

* * *

 _ **Karakura Town - The Kurosaki Clinic**_

Orihime was just saying goodbye to Rukia and Renji, as well as their daughter, Ichika. Everyone else had already left at that point, and Yuzu and Karin had already headed to bed. It was just her and Ichigo now.

"That was fun wasn't it Ichigo? It was nice to see everyone again, and it seems like Kazui even made a friend." She of course, referred to their son, Kazui Kurosaki, who had already fallen asleep in her lap. Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah it was. It's just too bad Uryu couldn't make it." Orihime nodded.

"Yeah, but Uryu's a doctor now, so it makes sense that his schedule would be too busy." Ichigo scoffed at that.

"Funny, I remember him saying once that he would never be a doctor...things really have changed haven't they? I mean, Uryu's a doctor, Rukia's a captain now, and Chad has become a famous heavyweight boxer. Hell, I mean Renji even managed to have a kid. That's not something I ever saw coming."

Orihime giggled. "Yes, but it's just a sign that everyone's grown up. We have our own child too." At this, Orihime stroked Kazui's little head. "And it's a sign that things have become normal."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile and nodded his head. "A time of peace. It's nice to have that after everything we've been through. I just hope something like that never has to happen again." They both grew silent and looked towards Kazui. They both knew that if something did happen to once again threaten the balance of the world, they might not be able to keep Kazui out of it. Still stroking Kazui's head, Orihime smiled.

"Well, if something does happen, it just means that we'll have to enjoy every moment we have together."

Ichigo smiled back, and moved in to hug her and their son. "Yeah, and that's an easy thing to do when I have you by my side. And this little bundle of joy too." Orihime blushed. Even after all these years, he could still make her do that.

Orihime leaned into his embrace, content to stay there. Yes, even if they did have to fight again, they would cherish this lifetime. There were lots of things about it to cherish. And even though Orihime once said that she wished to have been able to live five different lifetimes, as she was being embraced by her husband, and as she was holding her son, she realized something.

 _"I don't need five lifetimes. This one lifetime is more than enough."_

* * *

 **Word Count: 427**

 **Woo! And we're finished! Well it's been a wild ride, and definitely the story that's taken me the longest to write...yeah I'm not proud of that. I think it turned out pretty nice though.**

 **I think this little epilogue here turned out ok too. I think it gives enough closure, but what do you guys think?**

 **Thank you for taking the time to click on, and read through my story. Please leave a review, it's always nice to see people appreciating my stories, and if you didn't, then criticism is always welcome as long as it's constructive.**


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